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Bottom line is I feel if I could not ride them, then why keep them? Why hold back their abilities because I am unable.

Sorry to be the dorry downer here For now I will ride.. well in a few weeks when I can

I can tell you that my horses would be much happier if I quit riding them. The don't give a hoot about their abilities other than eating, sleeping and pooping I actually have two pasture pets and I love them as much as the ones I have to ride. For me they still give me something even if I can't ride them

Your not being a dorry downer you are just mourning for what you lost and will maybe lose in the future. Luckily there are many here that totally understand where you are coming from

If you can afford it, I would highly recommend full care or a trainer. B/w my crappy body and local traffic there is no way that I can do what I want by myself. The way things are now, I get to see the critter, brush her if I want, but not do any of the heavy work. Or much of the light work either . Much can be said for having one brought out for you ready to go. I also have found that being "just an owner" is actually a bit of a thrill. Watching this horse blossom with someone competant working her has been great. You know that goose-bumpy "Wow, I own this horse?" feeling is MUCH better than the tired, frustrated, hurting, trying-to-do-it-all feeling.

I totally get the why bother if I can't ride feeling. Occaisonally I throw a leg over a school horse, but I basically hate riding quiet, dead broke horses. There just isn't any point in it to me, so I just don't ride anymore. I'm happier that way.

I got hurt when I was 23. God & I have had a lot of loud, one way conversations along the way. It's ok to be mad at the unfair world for awhile. Just not forever.

I have Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder and Lupus, both are degenerative disorders for me and are very extreme in their natures and the combination is potentially lethal. I am constantly in "flares"...there are sometimes weeks or even months I cannot ride...plus I live in a hot, sunny climate and with what the sun can do to trigger Lupus, well....

SO, when I'm feeling reasonably ok to ride and it's "too hot and sunny" out, I ride at dawn, or dusk and at night (have lights at my barn/arena). Doing these adjustments means I ride alone most of the time, but at least I ride!

When I am feeling "so-so" and can at least be out and about but know it's not safe to ride, I groom, teach my horse tricks, handwalk and my newest and most wonderful discovery: do At Liberty training with my horse...it's SO fun and she adores doing it.

If one day I know that I NEVER AGAIN can ride, I may or may not look into driving...I'm unsure in my situation that would be a solution. But, I can usually groom and handwalk and do the At Liberty work. My sweet mare just wants to be doing things together, doesn't have to always be riding (although she loves that, too).

If necessary I'd also get a mini for myself...my neighbor boards his mini with me right now and I find him adorable and lots of fun...taught him to jump on hand commands...would love to have my own as well.

I suppose one day I'll not have horses at all, but I hope that is many years from now and my secret wish is that at "worst" I get a mini (although honestly my mare is so sweet and attached to me I can likely just do "ground" things with her forever and she'll still be happy).

It's a tough subject. I've got instructions in my Living Will and my Last Will that my horse(s) will go to a therapy riding group if I am unable to have them at all or I pass on. Knowing they can give joy and further love to others later on gives me some peace about my own situation.

The one thing I keep remembering: my deepest passion in general is animals, and specifically in horses...and I have been LUCKY enough to have had some sort of contact with horses most of my life to one degree or another, and later in life I've actually gotten to own my OWN! What a joy! MANY lovely memories and I will take them right to the end...if I find I feel sad about my health issues and how it might limit me (currently or in the future) I just remember that it could have been that I'd never have had this wonderful experience of horses in my life! I'm VERY grateful to have had anything at all!

For me I enjoy spending time with the horses whether I can ride or not. Grooming, hanging out, ground work etc.

We don't ride much anymore, but do drive. I would second the comments from some that you don't want to wait until you are already infirm before you start driving. Depending on the type of driving you want to do it is still more physical than you might think. It is MUCH easier on the knees though.

If a time comes when the horses we have now are more than we can handle, I would seriously consider doing this with either them or a mini. Not a dog person with allergies to boot, so this mix of agility and horse sounds fun.

still riding

As I read this post I wonder how many of you might be able to keep riding if you rode a really smooth gaited horse. I had to give up trotting horses about 15 years ago. I have a non-healed fracture of my ankle and the usual back and knee pain from a lifetime of riding. Good friends turned me on to gaited horses and I've been riding them ever since . I'm in my sixties now and still riding. Its important to find the right horse as just being gaited doesn't mean that horses gait will work for your back or hips.
For people who have mounting issues a really fine paso fino is wonderful choice. Yes they are small but really big movers. As with all horses you really have to hunt for a good one.
I have TWH, MFT, and racking horse. Actually the racking horse is so smooth and fast, lots of fun and easy on the body.
I hope I have encouraged some of you to think of other ways to have fun riding.

I also don't find trotting too much on my current horse because he has a western pleasure type trot. I ride reining horses and other than warming up I usually lope most of the time. For me I find stopping (sliding stops) more difficult then anything. If my timing isn't right then I really get jared hard when my horse goes to the ground.

There is so much one can do with a horse. Check out Carolyn Resnicke on utube. As for holding a hoof up I bo't a hoof jack off ebay that holds the hoof while I pick. Clicker training is greatfun. Excerpts can be found on utube. On a nice day I'll even take a chair and sit in the pasture and read and I find the horses will join me. There comes a connection whereby one wants to spend more and more time with a horse.

Gaited or not

[QUOTE=walkers;5544747]As I read this post I wonder how many of you might be able to keep riding if you rode a really smooth gaited horse....
For people who have mounting issues a really fine paso fino is wonderful choice. Yes they are small but really big movers. QUOTE]

Hey Walkers- I too am thinking gaited may be in my future. The concussion of a canter -not the trot- that will probably destroy my SI. I still have dreams to reach my eventing goals, though. Maybe a five-gaited ASB? I have no idea if this is reasonable and my future riding may all be a pipe dream anyway .

When I was riding for a paycheck, I had to exercise a handful of Paso Finos. What fun! Never rode gaited before and their hot little petal-to-the-metal attitudes were quite the introduction! My neighbor with Andalusions called them the Chihuahuas of the horse world .

I would love to sit another gaited horse to see how it felt: especially a hot and macho Paso Fino!

I quit riding because of my joint pain, and didn't get even a pasture pony after the Promise Mare died, because I'm getting old and I don't want to leave a horse behind.

I have found that volunteering is the right pathway for me. It keeps me in touch with the horses, and I feel that I am doing something really useful, plus paying back for all of the wonderful riding years I had.

I don't know of a rescue, placement organization or therapeutic riding facility that doesn't welcome and need volunteers. There's always something you can do, and soft noses to pat.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past - let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
Kennedy

Louise, even dirt breaks down after a while. Since we are two of the coth members older than dirt( is Suzy still riding?), it is no surprise we don't ride anymore. For me it was rather sudden- in February I had a spontaneous burst of a lumbar disc and have 3 more waiting to go. The docs all say don't hasten it by riding...

I am glad someone mentioned grieving the fact that one can no longer ride.
I used to drive and know it is as strenuous as riding and as hard or harder on your back, so I am not even going to bother. The things I enjoyed besides riding are caring for the horses at home- can't do it, can't clean stalls, can't lifet a saddle, can't risk being pulled off my feet by a lunge or ground driven horse having a "moment". Can't walk my 2 big dogs on a leash for the same reason. Can't garden, because my back won't take the digging. Can't hike due to leg paralysis- well- I still walk, but slowly- with two walking poles to assist.
It is extremely bittersweet to try and help those around me with their riding, even though I am a trained coach. Plus, driving in a car or truck is as hard on my back as riding. At the moment it is hard to even do the basic care I can still do- feeding grain, grooming and dragging a hose to fill water buckets.

Sucks and excuse me while I grieve.

"The Threat of Internet Ignorance: ... we are witnessing the rise of an age of equestrian disinformation, one where a trusting public can graze on nonsense packaged to look like fact."-LRG-AF

Louise, even dirt breaks down after a while. Since we are two of the coth members older than dirt( is Suzy still riding?), it is no surprise we don't ride anymore. For me it was rather sudden- in February I had a spontaneous burst of a lumbar disc and have 3 more waiting to go. The docs all say don't hasten it by riding...

I am glad someone mentioned grieving the fact that one can no longer ride.
I used to drive and know it is as strenuous as riding and as hard or harder on your back, so I am not even going to bother. The things I enjoyed besides riding are caring for the horses at home- can't do it, can't clean stalls, can't lifet a saddle, can't risk being pulled off my feet by a lunge or ground driven horse having a "moment". Can't walk my 2 big dogs on a leash for the same reason. Can't garden, because my back won't take the digging. Can't hike due to leg paralysis- well- I still walk, but slowly- with two walking poles to assist.
It is extremely bittersweet to try and help those around me with their riding, even though I am a trained coach. Plus, driving in a car or truck is as hard on my back as riding. At the moment it is hard to even do the basic care I can still do- feeding grain, grooming and dragging a hose to fill water buckets.

Sucks and excuse me while I grieve.

Ahh, and you are in a very different part of the grieving process than I am, since it's been over two years since The Promise Mare died, and longer than that since I quit riding The Old Man somewhere around 2005. I've known you on line a long time and I am pretty darn sure you're tough enough to get through this natural process and come out stronger on the other side.

I do my hiking with poles, too, by the way. Do you take a camera along? Gives you an excuse to stop every once in a while, to take pictures. I have learned a lot about flora and fauna since I started the photography.

Everyone's path is different, and I hope that you get to a smoother place on yours soon.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past - let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
Kennedy

I still don't know what I'm going to do, and I had to give it up 2 years ago!

I'm just kind of winging it at the moment. I took Quattro in to be my driving horse, but in the early stages he showed ZERO talent or interest in it and just did not have the focus in his little baby brain! Along the way, though, he had been sent off to be started under saddle by an eventer, and we found out that what he really loffs to do is JUMP. So right now, he's in training at an H/J barn. I'm so lucky to have found a trainer who doesn't mind, and in fact even values, a little bit of input from the Old Lady on how he should be trained and what he should be doing and what we think he might do next. Apart from that, I'm his official groom, hand-grazer and de-spooker.

I have to admit I did not buy him anticipating that he was going to stay in full training for years (sigh) and I get a little sulky about just being a semi-ambulatory checkbook at this stage of life - but at the same time, it's SO rewarding to watch him get better and better every time I get down there or we take him to a show. I *know* I made the right decision for my little orange horse! I am hoping to find a deserving young rider in a training program to free-lease him for a year or several and really put the polish and miles on him, then bring him back home and see if he might be more amenable to driving after he has seen a little more of the world.

At the same time though, I'm with Bluey to some extent - for me, driving is a way way WAY distant second to still being able to ride. I've vented before, but I *hate* all the faffing around w/ the vehicle, I *hate* cleaning harness and polishing brass, and as someone else pointed out, driving is really NOT the relaxing pastime it looks like it is. I also know I don't really have it in me to do CDE's and the pleasure shows seem to be drying up so I guess I'd just be a recreational driver. Or I *could* do the breed shows and that actually does have some appeal...

So - who knows? I'm just taking it one day at a time...

"The standard you walk by is the standard you accept."--Lt. Gen. David Morrison, Austalian Army Chief

When my mom was in hospice with her cancer, at age 78, and I would go to visit her after I'd been to the barn, she would hug me and then put her face against my shoulder and take a deep breath. Then she would smile and say, "You smell like horses."

I don't think you can give up someone or something you love with a lot of grief.

My sister shows dogs and I am amazed at the number of older women, many of them with health and/or weight problems, who once rode and showed horses.

I thought of this a lot and have had a lot of practice from my injuries and old crippled horses. I have a young one now and hopefully our retirements will coincide but if they did not I would still want horses just would pick retired broodies or pasture ornaments who just need a home. I enjoy the care of horses as much as riding them. If the day comes when I can no longer do that well I still have my breyers!

I have a friend who has a dreadful disease - als. He loves the out of doors but soon will be unable to walk. I am having my horse trained to drive and have purchased a carriage capable of carrying my friend in it.

The idea is that, even though he is disabled, he can still come along on group hikes - as long as I can drive my horse and carriage on the route.